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Maggie Hopp photographs

Call Number

PR 342

Date

1978-2010, 2020, inclusive

Creator

Hopp, Maggie (Margaret), 1945-

Extent

33.5 Linear feet in 28 boxes

Language of Materials

The collection is primarily photographic, but any text is in English.

Abstract

The collection includes photographs by Maggie Hopp (b. 1945), primarily of midtown and lower Manhattan in New York City from the late 1970s to the late 1990s. Many of the images depict the exteriors and interiors of theaters of 42nd Street and Times Square in the 1970s, often in a deteriorated condition, and the demolition or gut renovations of these buildings. Other images include exterior views of venues featuring sexually pornographic entertainment, views of lower and midtown Manhattan along the Hudson River waterfront, along 6th Avenue (Avenue of the Americas), of Creative Time's 42nd Street Art Project of 1993-94, of the Luxor Baths, and of other aspects of the built environment at a transitional moment in New York's real estate development.

Biographical/Historical Note

Maggie Hopp (b. 1945) pursued multiple career paths, including in the fields of photography and real estate. She was born in Poughkeepsie, NY, and in her childhood moved with her family to New York City. She attended Bard College, graduating in 1967 with a degree in psychology. By this time, Hopp had already developed an interest in photography and in the late 1960s and early 1970s traveled the world to live and develop her craft as a "personal editorial documentary photographer."

Returning to New York in the 1970s, Hopp found a patron and mentor in Seymour Durst, the real estate developer. Durst employed her to photograph areas of New York City of interest to him from the standpoint of potential development targets. Perceiving the potential for, even the inevitability of, drastic change in the built environment of the areas she was assigned to photograph, Hopp expanded on the work to encompass a "photographic documentary art project." While initially satisfying Durst's needs for information, Hopp went well beyond that to preserve visually the buildings and streetscapes at the center of the tension between preservation and progress.

Hopp's work in this regard focused in substantial part on the midtown Manhattan area centered on Times Square and 42nd Street, an area that by the late 1970s had become a disreputable site known for pornographic movie houses, peep shows, and the like. Hopp's work documented the state, often deteriorated, of the buildings and the efforts through the 1980s and 1990s to renovate or demolish them. Hopp's work also included views from along the Hudson River waterfront (the site of a proposed elevated Westway Highway, which was never built) and from lower Manhattan along 6th Avenue (also known as Avenue of the Americas), as well as other locales. Many of these photographs were exhibited by Hopp or included as documentary illustrations in books, and came to be referred to in whole by Hopp as her New York City Archive. Seeking to place the material with a New York institution, Hopp donated the work in 2017 to the New-York Historical Society.

(The above was based in large part on an interview Maggie Hopp gave in 2015 to the on-line magazine, Ragazine.)

Arrangement Note

The collection is generally arranged by subject matter: "Waterfront," "Outer Smut," "Theaters under Siege" and other 42nd Street-related photographs. Materials found toward the close include a variety of subjects.

With minor exceptions, the photographs remain in the boxes and in the order within boxes as originally presented to N-YHS by the photographer/donor. Generally, the headings used in the container list below are the same used by the photographer to label the boxes. [Bracketed] references were added by the processing archivist.

Scope and Contents

The collection includes an extensive number of photographs by Maggie Hopp, referred to collectively by her as the New York City Archive. The collection holds about 2,000 photographic prints, mostly 8x10 and 11x14 in size, though there are many copies of many of the images. There are also almost 1,000 sheets of contacts, slides, and 35mm negative strips, which include the printed images, but many more as well. The bulk of the photographs range from the late 1970s to late 1990s. Generally, the photographs fall into the following principal categories as labeled by Hopp:

"Waterfront." This set includes images taken along the Hudson River waterfront in lower Manhattan, primarily in the mid-1990s before the Hudson River Park was constructed. These images include the interiors and exteriors of warehouses and other buildings (e.g., graffitied trailers, Holland Tunnel air shaft, Marine Aviation Terminal, Department of Docks, Prince Theater on West Street); skyline views (e.g., Empire State Building, World Trade Center, Statue of Liberty); piers and docks (e.g., Chelsea Piers, Pier 57, Pier 64); ships docked or cruising on the Hudson (Intrepid aircraft carrier, USS Edson, Circle Line, Spirit Cruises, Song of America, Robert Fulton, Queen Elizabeth 2, tugboats, commuter boats, etc.); South Street Seaport; Riverside South; Fulton Landing; Hudson River Sculpture Center; Manhattan Golf Club Driving Range; police helicopter; pedestrians, rollerbladers, homeless individuals, and other street life along the riverside walkway; winter scenes; and many more. Many of these photographs were displayed in Hopp's 1997 exhibition On the Waterfront at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.

"Outer Smut." Hopp's title refers to the marquees, signage, storefronts, and other exterior views of pornographic movie houses and other adult/sex entertainment venues on 42nd Street. This set includes 16x20 color prints. The prints are dated 1999, though it is likely that the images date from much earlier.

"Theaters Under Siege." This set includes black and white photographs of the exteriors and interiors of 42nd Street theaters. These photographs capture images of the often deteriorated condition of the theaters in the late 1970s, before condemnation by New York state, and trace their evolution through demolition or gut renovation into the late 1990s. Among the theaters depicted are the New Amsterdam, Victory, Lyric, Liberty, Selwyn, and Henry Miller's. This set includes the photographs and installation views of Hopp's 1990 exhibition at the Municipal Art Society concerning the New Amsterdam.

Creative Time/42nd Street Art Project. This set includes color and b&w images of the 42nd Street Art Project of 1993 and 1994. Creative Time was formed in 1973 to provide an organization for artists to experiment with ideas and new works for public exhibition in alternative spaces. One of Creative Time's projects was the 42nd Street Art Project (1993, 1994). In the face of New York's plans to renovate and change the character of 42nd Street, Creative Time sought "to address the neighborhood's history through temporary installations in the storefronts, windows, public areas, and on signage between Broadway and Eighth Avenue."

In addition, the collection includes images of various buildings and locations from midtown and lower Manhattan that were subject or potentially subject to development: 6th Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) from about 14th Street north to 30th Street, 4 Times Square, Hotel Diplomat, the Debt Clock, among many others. There is a rich set of photographs, in both color and black and white, of the interior of the Luxor Baths building, demolished in the 1980s. Many photographs include individuals interested in the development of New York's real estate, including Seymour Durst and governors Mario Cuomo and George Pataki. There are also photographs of protests in the 1990s against such development.

The collection also includes Hopp's self-published 2020 book of her photographs of her elderly Aunt Belle, taken in the years shortly before Belle's death in 1989 at age 108.

The container list includes more detail on the content of each box in the collection.

Access Restrictions

Open to qualified researchers by advance appointment only. To schedule an appointment, contact the Print Room Librarian at printroom@nyhistory.org.

Use Restrictions

Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.

Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.

Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions

Preferred Citation Note

This collection should be cited as Maggie Hopp photographs, PR 342, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, New-York Historical Society.

Credit line for labels: © Maggie Hopp, photographer

Immediate Source of Acquisition Note

The bulk of the collection was a gift of the photographer, Maggie Hopp, in September 2017. Hopp donated her pictorial work "Great Aunt Belle" in July 2021.

Separated Materials Note

The donor included a copy of Anne Pasternak's catalogue Creative Time: The Book, edited by Ruth A. Peltason, published by Princeton Architectural Press, 2007. Maggie Hopp contributed photographs to this catalogue. The book was separated from the photographs for item cataloging and is shelved separately in N-YHS's Library.

Related Archival Materials Note

N-YHS holds other photograph collections concerning the Times Square area during the 1970s. These include:

Kenneth Siegel Photograph Collection (PR 298)

Andreas Feininger Photograph Collection (PR 207)

Collection processed by

Larry Weimer and Alison Barr

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:51:34 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is written in: English, Latin script.

Processing Information Note

The collection was processed by archivist Larry Weimer with volunteer Alison Barr assisting with box-level content descriptions.

Repository

New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024